So apparently Heidi & I were on this freaky wavelength this week where we both agreed on everything…literally, we thought of almost the exact same things for this weeks awards. Add to that the fact that this week was just a pretty damn good week, both performance-wise and results show-wise, so this week’s awards are a little less snarktastic (sorry kids…we just were feeling the semifinal love this week :-D) and a little more just odd observations…but interesting ones nonetheless! Now…let’s take it cheesey, shall wee? 😉

The “3rd Time’s a Charm!” Award – Cheryl & Chad , for their 3rd week in a row wearing see-through ballroom outfits
Courtney: I think wardrobe was cutting corners and just made 3 identical dresses for Cheryl, and then dyed them whatever color felt right for the week, hehe. But this time they actually got it right: I loved that flesh tone on her, and it went perfectly with her 40’s-esque, softly curled hair. A definite improvement from the white christening gown two weeks ago, and the black negligee (complete with thong-like lower back thingie!) from last week. Chad dittoed his Viennese waltz silky pajamas again…gotta say, that’s the most interesting interpretation of a ballroom suit I’ve seen in awhile. To me it says “Heck yah I’m gonna do the waltz, and then afterward, I’m gonna go have drinks with Hef – without changing clothes!”

Heidi: Hee – we are sharing a brain today – I was having deja vu with my “another day, another see thru skirt. But you’re right, this one was very pretty.

Biggest Waste of Season-Long Buildup Award – The Design-a-DanceCourtney: Why oh why did they think having two former celebs doing a dance together would be a good idea??! This was a disaster, IMO. Sloppy choreography that neither of them seemed to really know well, a crappy tango song, and Joey Fatone in KISS makeup. Bleeeccchhh. Even the guy that designed the costumes seemed to be unhappy to be there witnessing it! The Design-a-Dance has really been going downhill since the first one where Julianne & Derek did the jive to “Great Balls of Fire” in season 7 – now that was worth the season-long buildup. Then there was the 4-person quickstep with Derek, Mark, Julianne, & Lacey, which was still pretty cute; and then the pro-am paso with Mark & Sabrina, which was just kinda ok…and then this. Oy. Hopefully next season they’ll revert back to the 2-pro format…because this was a big letdown. 🙁

Heidi: Again, sharing a brain. WTF? Like we don’t have enough amateurs dancing on this show they have to make DaD amateur as well? I must say, though, that the designer will probably be a huge success because he has “bored bitchface” down to a science!! And really, that’s all it takes to be a designer, right?

The Carrie Ann Inaba Weird Analogy of the Week – Describing Nicole’s ability to learn new dances as “Pooping out cells”Courtney: It’s moments like these that make me wonder if Carrie Ann knocked back a few drinks before hitting the judging table. I mean, I understood what she meant; it was just really…awkward. I think I liked the Charlie Brown teacher analogy better.

Heidi: As soon as I heard the word “Poop” I was gone. I mean really, I prefer Bruno’s f-bombs. 🙂

The Peculiar Body Language Award: Nicole & Derek, for their repeated neck-touchingCourtney: Now Heidi may have been tipped off by their armpit sniffing and gum spitting last week, but the way they kept touching each others’ necks this week made me wonder if there was something more than just platonic friendship going on between these two. The neck is a vulnerable, erogenous zone – you don’t just go around caressing someone else’s unless you’re romantic with them. Yes, I am aware that Derek injured his neck – but why did Nicole feel the need to keep touching it? And why was he touching hers? Hmmmm….

Heidi: Honey, he wasn’t just touching, he was stroking – very strange, particularly since he’s not giving off the vibes he did with Joanna (aka the “yer sooooo pretty and hot” vibes 🙂 ). I had several WTF moments with Nicole and Derek this past week – like, if she had taken any longer with the family after the AT (including bf) he would have picked her up and caveman carried her to the celebraquarium.

Unofficial Sponsor of the Semifinal Performance Show: PrinceCourtney: The Purple Man…the Artist Formerly Known as Prince…whatever you call him, he’s AWESOME. Two Prince songs in one night, and a Purple Rain-inspired costume? LOVES IT. The only thing better would be him sitting in the front row, glasses on, hair all pompadour-y…glorious.

Heidi: Derek says in his blog that the song they danced to was specifically ONLY allowed for Nicole. I believe his words were “Nicole and Nicole ONLY” was allowed to dance to it. Pretty cool. Love the Purple One.

The Whoopsy-Daisy Award: Bruno and his various faux pas this weekCourtney: First there was the “9!” while holding up the 10 paddle; then the naughty word slip that those skillful censors managed to catch in the nick of time. I wanna say there was more stuff he fouled up a bit, but I just couldn’t keep track of them, haha. The man was in rare form this week…didn’t think it was possible for him to be any more flamboyant than he already is! LOL.

Heidi: I love the little dude. You want me to post the video of him and Billy Bush in speedos? Seriously – I have that and haven’t had time. It’s a little on the scary side. 🙂 They cook in their speedos too.

Tom Bergeron Line O’ the Night: “Bruno had premature paddling” (check the actual phrasing) tied with “I’m gonna go get me one of those Derek Hough Injuries”Heidi: You know, the very best thing about Tom and what makes him so lovable is that he clearly loves this show and everyone involved in it. That makes him genuinely hilarious in a sweet way.

Courtney: He’s like the Papa Bear of DWTS, looking out for all his baby pro-ducklings and star-ducklings 😀 He reminds me of Cat Deeley on SYTYCD – she always seems to look out for the contestants and seems to develop an attachment to them each season. Seacrest, on the other hand – he almost seems like he intentionally puts the Idol kids in the hot seat for ratings. Whole lotta good that’s doing, buddy.

The Cheese Match Made in Heaven Award: Corky Ballas sitting almost next to Donny OsmondHeidi: Lord have mercy, that’s way too much cheese for me. Good thing there was one dude sitting between them or we might be drowning in cheddar sauce.

Courtney: Oh good GAWD – I do remember seeing them sitting in pretty close proximity, a few rows behind Rick Fox & Kareem Abdul Jabbar (glad those two Lakers were there to run interference and cancel out some of the Corky-Donny energy…the building could have imploded from too much cheese!). The clash of the attention fiends! Here’s my weird Carrie Ann analogy for them: have any of you ever watched MadTV and seen the sketches with Stuart, the little boy Michael McDonald played that was always saying “Look at what I can do! Look at what I can do!”? Well, put Corky & Donny in front of a camera and you’ve got yourself a regular old Stu-off…each one trying to outdo the other, saying “Look at what I can do! Look at what I can do!” Hilarity.

Most Stark Transition to Adulthood since Britney Spears: Miley Cyrus
Heidi: What the hell? How old is this little chickadee?? Or do I not want to know? So, like when you reach (Hollywood’s version of) adulthood you grow feathers and live in cages, or is that only for lip-syncing pop tarts anxious to shed the Hannah Montana label?

Courtney: This was like the second coming of the “Dirrrty”-era Christina Aguilera – totally contrived and just plain weird. And yes, Heidi, when you reach adulthood you do grow feathers and live in cages, and fake smooch on your female backup dancers and grind with gay choreographers (*cough*Adam Shankman*cough*)…apparently you and I just missed the memo 😉

Ahhhh…this week’s awards seemed to go down like a nice brie cheese – smooth and not at all sharp. Apologies for those of you wanting something a bit bitier 😉 Maybe the chips on our shoulders will return next week for one last hurrah before a 4-month hiatus…fingers crossed! 😀

Another celeb bites the dust… right before the finals! So sad… but to commemorate Chad & Cheryl’s dances, we’re going to take a quick trip down memory lane for the two songs that Chad & Cheryl recycled from previous couples.

The first song is Cancion Del Mariachi by Los Lobos and Antonio Banderas both couples did this as a Paso Doble…

This was first done by Season 3’s Mario Lopez & Karina Smirnoff on Week 4:

And here is Chad and Cheryl‘s version.

Secondly there is the song If You Don’t Know Me by Now as done by Simply Red (though it was originally recorded by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes) both of the following couples did this as a Waltz.

Originally danced by Season 4’s Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough. (Start at 1:26)

My life can be summed up in the following two quotes: 1) "I am married to engineering and am its faithful wife by day, but at night my wanderlust takes hold and the arts becomes my jealous paramour." and... 2) "Engineering is my safety net. Writing is my passion. Acting is my escape when the other two become too much." So where does dancing fit in? Pretty much anywhere at this point... =)

One of my favorite parts of Pure Dancing with the Stars is having polls where people can vote for their favorite dancers. I love it because they are actually very good predictors of who is actually going to win this season of Dancing with the Stars. Take a look at the poll we did at the beginning of the season to predict the Dancing with the Stars season 10 winner. The top 4 in votes were in fact the top 4. How beautiful is that?

Well, it’s that time again. We’re down to the final 3 and it’s your chance to vote for who you think (or who you want, you choose) to win Dancing with the Stars season 10. Should be fun to watch and see who the Pure DWTS readership predicts to be the winner of Dancing with the Stars season 10. Now Vote!!

Goodness – that was one jam packed hour of TV. Probably too jam packed for me. 🙂 In case you haven’t already heard, Chad went home tonight as I predicted. Now will people FINALLY believe me when I say that Dial Idol does NOT WORK for DWTS? Probably not. 🙂

The Scorecard

Heidi: Predicted straight up that Chad was leaving us. And I was correct.

Marianya’s prediction was that Chad would leave with Erin in either a real or faux bottom 2 (they didn’t indicate either way). Pretty good job!! The only one she was really off base on was Chad and we all know why that is, don’t we. 🙂 Dude was overscored. Same could be said of Erin and Maks, but not to the same degree.

So, next week is the finale. My extremely preliminary view is that Evan will win, with Nicole in 2nd and Erin in 3rd. But hey, I’m just happy I get to see another Hough freestyle. No pressure, Derek. 🙂

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Time again for the music from tonight’s episode of Dancing with the Stars which included guest performances by Sarah Mclachlan and Miley Cyrus. DWTS is doing well when you look at the guest performers they’ve had on the show this year. Wow!

Every season the topic of previous dance experience seems to come up. Most of the people are angry that one of the stars has dance experience. Of course, it’s usually a little bit disingenuous since these angry people are often just fans of one of the other stars/pros. However, I can’t say that I don’t sympathize with their feelings. It is completely unfair for one person to have more dance experience than another. At least when we’re talking about a dance competition. That doesn’t feel right.

What most people don’t realize is that Dancing with the Stars never said that this competition was fair. Plus, is there such a thing as a fair competition? Some people just have more natural dance ability. Who would have guessed that Brooke Burke would have been such a great dancer? I know I wouldn’t have guessed it. Yet, she just had some real natural ability that she was able to bring to the table. Is that fair that she can learn things faster than others? Of course not.

Let’s just get it behind us that this is a fair competition. It’s not a fair competition. It’s a show that’s meant to entertain us. Plus, it’s not like the stars that participate aren’t getting something in return. They’re getting paid to be on the show and they’re getting a ton of exposure. Sure, they like the competition aspect, but there are a lot of other reasons these stars go on DWTS.

Why don’t we take this one step further? Dancing with the Stars really isn’t a dance competition. Yes, it resembles a dance competition, but it’s really not. It’s a popularity contest. Ok, in the beginning it’s more of a dance competition, but once we reach this point in the competition the judges scores are so close that they become irrelevant. That means that the show becomes a popularity contest and not a dance contest.

Using that line of thinking, it’s completely unfair that one star is more popular than another, right? I mean if DWTS is just a popularity contest, then DWTS should make sure that they don’t bring on any stars that are more popular than another star right? That’s basically what people are saying when they say they don’t want people with previous dance experience, no? Of course, both ideas will never happen.

I guess at the end of the day, I don’t get all worked up over it all. The show is about entertaining me and it does that very well. Sure, I love prognosticating on who will go home and what not. However, the fact that one has more dance experience just adds to the fun of guessing what’s going to happen. The more variables to consider the better.

Of course, this isn’t much consolation if it’s your favorite star or pro that’s getting sent home. Don’t worry. Next season it will be your favorite star or pro that’s staying while another “more deserving” star/pro get sent home.

I could be wrong, but it looks like Maks used nearly the same choreo for the V. Waltz as when he choreographed one on tour when Derek was dancing with Edyta and Aliona. I’ve only watched Derek do that dance 500 times – it seemed pretty familiar. It’s still very pretty. And why does Maks insist on having so much filler in his dances? That part at the end where they sit down took forever. I hate that split skirt thing – culottes?

Besides all that, Erin’s waltz was a bit sticky and Erin knew it. You could see it on her face. It reminded me of one of Joanna’s dances last season where it seemed like her feet were a bit stuck to the floor. I think she was a tad overscored on that one – only by a point or so. That said…

No one was more overscored than Chad. Overhyped, IMO. And keep trying to sell the “no experience” thing. Yeah, you don’t have any, but your sales pitch was so…obvious. Tacky. And Cheryl’s not exactly been hurting for great partners. At the end of the first round it appeared that the judges wussed out just like I expected.

I love how Len puts it all out there saying that all three of the others (besides Chad) have some dance experience. That said, Cheryl’s comment about that Chad being what the competition was about was curious. Really, Cheryl? If that’s what the competition is about then why do the producers hire people like Nicole, Evan and Erin?? Or, for that matter, DREW LACHEY. 😉

Nicole, please don’t choke Derek while his neck is hurt. Derek, please see someone about your neck – it gets hurt every season at this time ever since you danced with Shannon. And Derek? I love a guy who breaks the cardinal rule of “no touching Nicole’s bunda” right in front of the guy who made the rule. 🙂 While I loved Derek and Nicole’s dances, I think they suffered a bit in comparison to the fantastic dances they did last week – not the quality of dancing, as much as the excitement factor – “Will Derek be able to choreograph a 50’s Paso??!!!” Which, incidentally, is what worries me about a freestyle if they make it through. Derek sets his own bar pretty high.

Erin’s paso was only okay to me, but it could have been the crap song. I agree with Len for a change – didn’t feel like a paso. But…it was a crap song. Much better costume for this dance – hot even – much better than the gawdawful split skirt/culottes or whatever the hell it was during the VW. Nice try capitalizing off a previous score of 6 – threatened by Chad and his growth arc? LOL. And Maks? :::eyeroll:::

Oh Chad. I like you, I really do. But they finally score him appropriately on his second dance.

Evan and Anna? LOVED the Paso, although I didn’t see the “innovation” that Bruno did – he’s a skater, the man spins for a living. Loved the costumes – gorgeous. Loved the first dance too, but right at this moment I can’t remember it – which could be a problem, I suppose, for Evan.

Okay, I have to say, as much as I currently really dislike Maks, if anyone other than Chad goes home I will be pissed off. Erin deserves to be there more than Chad – and if Nicole or Evan go home? This show is dead to me. 🙂 Okay, not really. Derek has a mirror ball trophy – I would not mind if Anna got one.

The Math

After all the dancing was done, and the judges waffled between wussing out and scoring appropriately, here’s how the competition stacked up:

Dancer/Total Score
Nicole/59
Evan/59
Erin/56
Chad/52

Seems like a nice, 7 point difference, right? Um, no. Not really. 🙂 When you add up the total points awarded and divide into the individual dancer’s total score, their percentages are as follows:
Nicole/26.11
Evan/26.11
Erin/24.78
Chad/23.01

I think they’re in the proper order in terms of dancing, but frankly, there isn’t enough of a spread between Chad and Erin. Or Chad and Evan/Nicole, for that matter. Anyway, we’re really at the point of the competition where the dancing has much less impact. People have probably, for the most part, made up their minds and a lot more plays into the voting than simple dancing. All bets are off when we get to the Freestyle though.

What would it take for Chad to stay and Erin to go home?? Well, Chad has to get approximately 13,275 more votes than Erin per 1 million votes cast. Not a whole lot, in the grand scheme of things. There is only 1.33 percent difference between them in judges scores.

What would it take for Evan or Nicole to go home? Chad would have to get about 31k more votes than one of them, and Erin would ALSO have to get 13,275 more votes than that same person. Do you see Erin and Chad getting a combined total of 44k more votes per one million votes cast than either Evan or Nicole?? I don’t really see it, but I don’t think anything can be ruled out.

So, who’s it going to be? Well, Dial Idol says Erin/Maks to go home, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say, AGAIN, that Dial Idol is crap and that Chad’s going to go home. That’s what I hope happens, anyway.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

We’re down to the final 4 dancers and the beauty of it is that I like them all. That’s always a good thing. Plus, I love this episode, because you get to see pretty much all of the dances in one night. As they say, variety is the spice of life. Although, were there really two Prince songs tonight? Indeed, it seems there were.

Erin & Maksim danced a Viennese Waltz to the song “February Song” —Josh Groban
Erin & Maksim danced a Paso Doble to the song “U Got the Look” —Prince
Nicole & Derek danced a Argentine Tango to the song “El Capitalismo Foráneo” – The Gotan Project
Nicole & Derek danced a Cha-Cha-Cha to the song “Kiss” —Prince
Chad & Cheryl danced a Waltz to the song “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” —Simply Red
Chad & Cheryl danced a Samba to the song “Alejandro” —Lady Gaga
Evan & Anna danced a Foxtrot to the song “I’ve Got the World on a String” —Frank Sinatra
Evan & Anna danced a Paso Doble to the song “Bring Me to Life” —Evanescence

While none of it was truly shocking for me (as usual, the judges threw out every paddle lower than 8, and even Tom’s announcement about the voting wasn’t that earth-shattering), I was entertained at every moment – even Chad brought his A-game tonight! I think it was John who said it earlier, but I’m gonna agree – this is the strongest season of DWTS yet. It will definitely be interesting to see who comes out on top. I don’t think all’s said & done yet…it very well could come down to the freestyle, with as close as some of the scoring has been, and the quality of the dancing. But on with the predictions of who will make the final and who will fall short!

1.) Evan & Anna – I honestly vacillated between Nicole & Derek and these two for the top spot, but when it comes down to it, I think Evan’s slide into 2nd last week (and the rallying of his fans) and the power of the money spot this week will give him a slight edge over Nicole. It was definitely nice to see him finally open up this week, without losing any of the technical value of the performance…he’s finally managed to strike a balance. I did, however, notice that there was an awful lot of open work in his foxtrot – I’m a little surprised Len didn’t chide him a bit more for it. I think he definitely had the strongest solo work of the contestants tonight; that paso solo was right in his wheelhouse, and really showcased his skating spins & jumps, and I think they lucked out getting such a dramatic (and popular) song for their paso. I’m calling these two as a shoo-in for the finale, with Nicole & Derek close behind.

2.) Nicole & Derek – Is there any dance this girl CAN’T do? Each week, I’m just astounded at how FLUID she is – it was especially noticeable in her Argentine tango. Every move just flows effortlessly into the next, which is what I think takes her a step above the other contestants, who seem to struggle with continuity. And I’ve got a confession to make: I’m a HUGE Purple Rain fan. Definitely one of my top 10 favorite movies – so of course I adored the cha-cha homage to Prince. 😀 Agreed with Len – thought Nicole’s solo was a little less cha-cha and a little more fluff & fun – but all in all it was a fun, entertaining little ditty nonetheless. And I agree with Heidi about their eerie sense of synchronization – they never seem to fall out of step, even if Nicole loses balance a bit. If these two aren’t in the finale, it will be a huge, huge tragedy, and I’m pretty sure Heidi will send the producers some road kill in a box or something, hehe 😉 But I’m confident they’ll make it through, although I could see it coming down to them being in a faux “bottom 2” with Chad to create suspense.

3.) Erin & Maks – I think their paso tonight was the strongest I’ve seen Erin all season – no nerves, all attitude, high energy…I even enjoyed her solo work, despite what the judges said. The unfortunate thing is that I think she’d be in a 3-way tie with Evan & Nicole if she could overcome 2 things: her nerves, and her balance. I still see a certain “stutter” in her movements, like we did in her rumba last week, and I feel like she’s still getting incredibly nervous – which was really noticeable in her Viennese waltz. I almost feel as though the two are connected – she gets jerky and stutter-y when she gets really nervous. Thought the waltz choreo was pretty, but thought the whole walk to the stage and sit-down at the end took up too much time. I’m gonna call these two good for the finale, for the simple reason that, despite my disdain for Maks, I do think Erin deserves to be there – she’s progressed more than Chad in both ability and performance quality.

4.) Chad & Cheryl – I gotta hand it to Chad: he stepped up his game this week. It may not have been as noticeable as with the other 3 couples, but it was there. I found his waltz charming – it took me back to Michael Irvin’s waltz last season, which was a major turning point for me since I hadn’t been particularly fond of him up until that point – and Chad’s waltz had the same effect. Maybe not the most technically perfect or challenging, but it moved nicely, and had a soft, genuine feel to it. His samba could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse too – he gave it a pretty damn good try, considering that it is the hardest of the Latin dances. He actually moved, and did more than just let Cheryl dance around him…wasn’t crazy about his solo, but hey, it’s pretty hard to do a samba solo anyway. While I just don’t think he has the juice to overcome Erin (let alone Nicole or Evan) and make it to the finale, I am glad he will at least get to leave on a high note, rather than being booted off unceremoniously after two incredibly weak dances.

Can you believe there’s only one performance show left??? It feel like just yesterday I was in shock that Shannen got the boot so early and was praying for Kate to sent packing. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m actually gonna miss Chad a bit – he may have annoyed me with his lazy dancing and hushed practice voice, but there was something strangely redeeming about him in the end. Oh well…at least football season is only a few months away, and for once I might actually be kinda excited to see my boys in blue square off against ol’ Ochocinco 😉